Got a new 8800 GT Akimbo....during the process of overclocking the card.... i got a system freeze. so i reboot..... both my hard drives have multiple errors...had to format them both. Had to switch Sata ports because the original ones dont work. far as i can tell out of 6, 3 still work. I had a very stable overclock on my q6600 at 3.1 ghz for 4 months with no problems. Now, if i change bios settings at ALL system wont boot. I was not pushing the limits of anything, just trying to get a decent stable overclock. video card checks out fine with no probs. memtest runs for 8+ hours no errors. everything runs fine unless i overclock, the whole system is still under warranty built in January. Reflashed to newest bios with no changes. still wont overclock. Whats the easiest way to check the PSU? Im leaning toward RMA'ing the Mobo because i tried 2 other HD's in the other sata ports and they show up in bios, but windows acts like they dont exist.

to check a PSU is to test it with another working PSU.

because a faulty PSU could screw possibly every single thing in your computer(parts that run on power).so test parts out one by one in another computer just to make sure it works.it could be something other then the mobo or PSU

what else could it be? hd's , memory and video check out.

+1. Since OP said 3/6 SATA ports don't work so it looks like the PSU fried motherboard and other things possibly. What was the PSU btw?

psu is antec trupower quattro 850 (yeah its much more than i needed i know, but i got a good deal on it)
mobo is asus maximus formula
intel q6600
evga nvidia 8800 gt 1gb akimbo
4x 1gb kingston hyperx dd2r 1066
creative x-fi xtreme gamer
2x 150gb western digital raptors
zalman 9700

good setup though.but i would spend the money on better graphics card rather then 2 raptor.

@OP:

RAM natively higher than DDR2 800 be aware that there will be compatibility issues. Many users reports and my personal testing has shown that there is a very good chance you will run in to issues with RAM higher than DDR2 800, such as DDR2 1066. I recommend you get quality DDR2 800 RAM and run them at 1:1 ratio or overclock the RAM. This issue dose not apply to DDR2 800 RAM that has been overclocked.

shadow: i never ran the ram above a 1:1 ratio

my intention was to never really have to push this system, just nudge it a little, so i purchased parts that could handle everything i throw at them and still have room to spare to keep the temps down. before the crash my core cpu temps were 32min 48max load. my goal was below 50c at max. the main reason i bought the kingston hyperx is because you can set em on fire and they will still give you new sticks no questions asked. On the asus forum people say this mobo and kingston sticks do not go well together, but then ive never had any problems. Only thing i noticed about the ram, in bios the command timing only works on 1t or auto, but when in auto mode, everest shows it at 2t. If i were to manually set it to 2t, no boot. so i left it on auto. rated up to 2.2 volts i think i had it stable at 1.9 timings 4-4-4-12 at a 1:1 ratio 333FSB. Any other way to test the PSU? my other psu is only 350 i'd have to test em 1 by 1 and im lazy. thanks for all the input btw

Hmm...interesting. Generally motherboards run command rate at 2T. Have you tried updating/re-flashing BIOS?

First thing i did. went from 0907 (no probs before) to 1203. nothing changed